Captive
by ffreaderwriter
Summary: Sequel to Passing Through. Two of the most powerful men, Lionel Luthor & Mr. Raines have a plan to start a new experiment.
1. Chapter 1

Here is the beginning of the promised sequel of Passing Through. Thanks for your patience, while I worked on another idea I had. As always, thanks to my beta and the readers and reviewers. Hope you enjoy.

Squeak. Squeak. Lionel sat in the chair in his office. His back was toward the room as he looked out over Metropolis skyline. He didn't have to turn around to know who his visitor was. A smug grin spread across his face.

"Dr. Raines, what a nice surprise. It's been a long time since I've heard from you. Who do I owe this honor of this visit to?"

Raines stopped in the middle of the room setting the oxygen tank upright. "You know why I'm here."

Lionel swiveled around in his chair to face the doctor. "Oh, yes. I do seem to recall hearing about your prize possession coming through near here and you letting him slip away again."

Lionel expression changed from smugness to one of fake concern. "Don't tell me that small town sheriff got the better of your team. Law and order normally doesn't stop you."

"No," Raines sneered. "She wasn't the only factor. He had help."

"By whom, might I ask."

"A family by the name of Kent." Raines watched as Lionel's expression changed slightly and a bit of interest could be seen in his eyes for a brief moment.

"What do you know about them?"

"You know I don't share information with just anyone." Lionel said, the look of smugness covering his features.

"What do you want?" Raines asked, knowing Lionel never did anything unless he had already calculated the possible outcomes.

"I want to be there.''

"That can be arranged."


	2. Chapter 2

Two weeks later…..

Clark sat in his loft looking over a few notes he'd made. Chloe was on her way over so they could start working on a research project, but he wasn't really focusing on his notes. He was thinking about his parents. It was their anniversary and after several promises that nothing would happen while they were gone, this time, they had decided to take a mini vacation and go away for the whole weekend. He was glad they were going to be able to have some time to themselves where they wouldn't have to worry about anything back on the farm.

A slight noise brought Clark's attention to the present. It sounded like it came from the bottom part of the barn. "Chloe?"

Clark quickly glanced out the window to make sure he hadn't somehow missed his friend's car drive up. He was about to go back to his studies, when he heard the noise again. Curiosity getting the best of him, Clark slowly walked downstairs to find the source of the noise. Reaching the bottom, he walked out towards the open area of the barn, still unable to find a source for the noise. Something just didn't feel right. All appearances seemed normal, but the hairs on the back of his neck seemed to stiffen getting ready for the unseen adversary.

A man wearing a nice suit stepped into the doorway of the barn. He had broad shoulders and a very serious expression on his face. He didn't say a word, as he stood there rigid.

"Who are you?" Clark's voice boomed. "What are you doing here?"

The newcomer didn't say a word, but a smug smile spread across his face.

"What do you want?" Clark asked again.

Just as the words left his mouth he felt a prick on his arm as an intense burning sensation followed. Clark turned and pulled out a small green dart where a deadly green drop came off on his finger. He sank to his knees as the burning sensation ran down the length of his arm.

The well-dressed man stepped towards Clark now seemingly unable to defend himself, jamming another needle in his other arm. The barn began to spin around and was fading to dark when Clark heard the man say, "Tell Dr. Raines the package is secure. "

Chloe pulled up to the Kent farm a little bit later than she had planned. She had been at the Torch working on a story when it seemed everything began to go haywire on her. Her computer decided to delete the partial story she had worked on all morning and the copier tried to eat everything she put in it. So, after wrangling with them for close to an hour she threw up her hands in disgust and decided to just give up, hoping they would be in a better mood when she got back.

"I hope he hasn't given up on me and decided to do something else." She mused to herself. She noticed the truck was still in the driveway. That was a good sign. At least he should be on the farm somewhere. Chloe walked into the barn calling out "Clark! I'm so sorry that I'm late, but technology just wouldn't cooperate with me today."

Not hearing a response Chloe quickly headed up the stairs to the loft wondering where her friend was. "Clark?" Chloe looked around unsure. He had definitely been there earlier. His books and notes were spread out ready for them to work on their project.

"Hmmm…. Maybe he's inside the house." Chloe thought it was a little odd that if Clark had been inside he wouldn't have come out when she drove up, but maybe he was busy doing something else. Chloe turned the knob finding the door unlocked. "Mrs. Kent, Mr. Kent, Clark?"

Chloe stood in the Kent's kitchen hearing nothing but the sound of her own voice. Okay, now she was beginning to get worried. _Where was everybody?_

Chloe quickly stepped back outside and dialed Pete on her cell phone. "Hey, Pete. Is Clark with you?" As Chloe listened her sense of worry heightened. "He's not. Well, it's just that I'm over at the Kent's and it a ghost town over here."

"Oh, how could I've forgotten?" Chloe slapped her head. "Yeah, I remember him saying his parents were going away for the weekend and not to mention it to anyone. He didn't want any unexpected guests coming over _again_. But, that doesn't explain why Clark went AWOL on me. Where could he be right now? I'm staring at his truck right here in his driveway. No, I'm going to look around here a little more and if I don't find anything I'll call you back."

A few hours later…..

Lionel smiled wickedly as he looked through the one-way observation window. Raines had outdone himself this time. Lionel turned as the newcomer entered the room. "I have to say I'm impressed." Lionel turned his focus back to the room's occupant. "So how did you do it? Did you have any trouble?"

"I waited until his support structures were away and then we moved in." Raines inhaled heavily before continuing. "Also, you're suspicions dealing with the green meteor rock proved accurate. The report was he gave them no trouble at all."

Lionel rubbed his chin in thought. He was about to get all the answers he had desperately wanted for so long. "How long before we can begin?"

"He needs to be awake before I can do anything more." Raines answered. "He was given enough tranquilizers to take down an elephant. I don't know when he'll wake up."

"I want to be notified the instant he awakens."

"Of course," Raines sneered.

Both men stepped out of the room, not noticing the pair of eyes peering out from the vent above.


	3. Chapter 3

Jarod relaxed out on the student courtyard. He was sitting outside a small café that bordered the small green area where the students seemed to like to congregate to talk, play Frisbee or just enjoy being outside. Jarod was enjoying the beautiful weather as well along with one of his favorite discoveries since leaving the Centre: ice cream. Today's specialty was a sundae with everything on it.

His red notebook lay on the wrought iron table in front of him. His was currently pretending to be a college professor where a student had died under mysterious circumstances. Next to the notebook laid his laptop, when its announcement of "You've got mail" brought him out of his ice cream daydream.

Jarod lazily opened his email thinking it was probably a student asking a question. He sat upright when he saw the email was sent from CJ. CJ was Angelo's screen name. _What was going on at the Centre now?_ There were only two words on the email. Happening Again.

Jarod saw there was a file attached and quickly clicked on it, his feeling of worry rising.

Suddenly, all the blood drained from his face. What he had feared might happened, had indeed taken place. Jarod look at Clark's seemingly unconscious form laying in one of the Centre's holding cells and his fear turned to anger. He would not let them rip anyone else away from their family and exploit them for their own gain.

Jarod got up immediately, gathering his laptop and notebook and headed back to the apartment where he was currently staying, the sundae forgotten.

Meanwhile…….

Martha sat at a picnic table in a small park as she listened to the sounds of the river as it flowed past and birds chirping in a nearby tree. She marveled at the beauty and peace the area gave its visitors. It had been several years since she and Jonathan visited this place. It was the same now as it had been then.

Martha glanced over at Jonathan as he smiled back at her. They had a great time earlier. She and Jonathan had gone on a hike down the river and then she got a lesson on how to properly catch fish in a river. She already knew, but enjoyed the lesson anyway. It didn't really matter what she was doing, as long as Jonathan was there nearby. He was now preparing the fish they had caught for their supper.

In the middle of all the peace and tranquility she couldn't quite shake the feeling that something just wasn't right. Her motherly radar seemed to be a little off kilter. She knew that Clark wouldn't try to have another party at the house while they were gone, so she knew it wasn't that.

She glanced over at her bag, which she had thrown her cell phone in at the last moment. She picked it up, noticing she had three bars on it. _That should be enough to make a call, just to check and see._ Martha flipped the phone open and noticed she had ten missed calls. _Ten missed calls, that's odd_ Martha's sense of dread was growing as she scrolled down the list and saw Pete had called her every time and in rapid succession.

Martha dialed the number cautiously. "Pete, This is Mrs. Kent. What's going on?"

Jonathan looked up curiously when he heard his wife making a call. He watched as the color drained from her face and became an almost ghostly white. Jonathan walked over to his wife gently putting his hand on her shoulder. "Honey, what did Pete say?"

Jonathan braced himself for what he was about to hear, knowing from his wife's countenance that it was not good. "Pete said Clark's missing."

"What?"

"Chloe was supposed to meet him earlier to work on a school project and when she got there the only thing she found was his school books. They've looked all over town for him."

Jonathan sat down hard on the ground trying to process what his wife had just said. He had a mix of emotions rushing through him all at once. One of which being guilt. He was Clark's father and protector and he had left and something had gone completely wrong. Another was anger. "Do they think someone took him?"

"I don't know."

One face formed in Jonathan's mind. "If Lionel Luthor has done something to my son, he's going to have to answer to me." Jonathan began to storm towards the truck. All he could see was red.

Martha quickly grabbed a hold of her husband's arm. "Jonathan, we don't know what's going on right now or if Lionel is even involved and storming after someone without any idea of what you're going to do isn't going to help Clark."

"I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to get our son back."

"We will Jonathan. But, not like this. We need to get back home and see if Pete or Chloe have found out anything."

Then something clicked in Jonathan's head and he began to calm down. He knew his wife was right. Also, what about Chloe? "Has Chloe started to formulate some kind of meteor freak theory for what she thinks happened to Clark?"

"Pete didn't mention any, but when she got there he was already gone, so she hasn't had a chance to start delving into the 'what happen' scenario and was more concerned on 'where is he'."

"We are going to have to be careful with her."

"I know. Let's go home."

Chloe paced back and forth in the Torch office. She had gone there to see if she could find out anything to help her find out what was going on, but since she didn't even know where to begin she ended up pacing nervously. Pete had come over to help her look, but what she didn't know was that Pete had been sent by the Kents to keep Chloe from finding out anything she shouldn't. She looked over at Pete who seemed unusually calm.

"So, the Kent's know that Clark is missing?"

"Yes."

"Have they contacted the police yet?"

"Not yet. Someone has to be missing 48 hours before you report them missing."

"How do you know that?" Chloe asked. She knew he was right, but she was focusing most of her attention on the current situation that she was overlooking the obvious.

"Saw it on CSI." Pete shrugged. "Chloe, if the Kents call the police now they're going to consider Clark a runaway."

Chloe turned quickly nearly shouting. "Clark did not run away! Something is wrong. Why are you so calm?"

Pete walked over to Chloe putting his arm around her shoulder. "Chloe."

She quickly shrugged him off. "No! Your best friend is missing and you don't seem the least bit worried."

"Chloe, panicking isn't going to help anybody. We need to stay calm and try to figure this out. Besides, if something has happened to Clark I'm pretty sure he can take care of himself. Don't you think?"

Pete watched as Chloe nodded and seemed to calm down a little, letting him give her a reassuring hug. What he didn't tell her was how worried he really was, because if someone had kidnapped Clark then they knew just how to do it.

Chloe took a breath and began to calm down. "You're right. Let's go over what we know so far."


	4. Chapter 4

Fog. Dense, grey fog. That's all Clark could see around him, seemingly impenetrable dark grey fog. He didn't know what was going on. All his limbs felt like they had a ton of weight on them, which normally wouldn't bother him but now he felt like he was trying to walk through molasses, every step was an effort.

"You have to wake up." The voice was faint but familiar. "Clark, you have to wake up."

"Mom?"

Clark turned at the sound of the voice and saw a small break in the fog. "You have to wake up."

Clark slowly opened his eyes trying to focus against the seemingly bright lights. He felt tightness on his arm and glanced down to see a woman holding a vial containing a red liquid in one hand and pressing on his arm right below where a tourniquet had been placed.

Instantly, Clark's eyes widened in shock, which caused his head to pound. "NO! STOP!"

Clark was surprised that his voice didn't have more force behind it. In his head, he was yelling at the woman, but it came out just a little above a whisper. The woman's face was expressionless. She didn't even acknowledge Clark was awake, continuing with her work, removing the tourniquet.

Clark tried desperately to knock the vial of blood from the woman's hand, but whatever he had been given was still too strong in his system and all the woman did was push away his hand. The woman turned away from Clark picking up the tray with her supplies on it

Clark watched her walk towards the door, pause for a moment while looking up in the corner, before the door slid open and she walked out.

Clark lay on the hard concrete slab that extended out from the wall, his mind reeling with what had just happened. He tried to remember what had happened before he ended up here, but his mind was still too foggy to remember. The last thing he could recall was being at home waiting to see Chloe. What had happened to him? Where was he? What were these people going to do him once they looked at his blood? Panic began to set in which only made the pounding in his head worse. _Maybe this is all a horrible dream. _ Clark closed his eyes again as the fog enveloped him once more.

Sydney followed Broots into the computer tech's office. He noticed that Broots was a little more amped up than normal, even for him. "What did you want to talk to me about Broots?"

"Well, I was just testing out a new program I wrote that checked over all the email correspondences going out and coming into the Centre. They are still trying to find out if Jarod is getting help from the inside, explaining how he's able to constantly stay one step ahead of us."

"And?"

"Well, a majority of the emails are just normal, mundane stuff that the program just automatically scans and then continued onto the next one. All except one."

Broots turned towards his computer hitting a few keys causing a screen to pop up. "This email right here. It's not from a known Centre email account. The IP address shows it was sent from inside this building but no one has that account assigned to them."

Sydney nodded his head. "Who was the message sent to?"

"That's where it becomes really interesting. I tried to track down the email and I couldn't. It bounced off twenty different servers all around the world before I lost it."

"So, what do you think is going on?" Sydney asked confused at the point of the conversation.

Broots lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "I think someone did email Jarod. That's why I can't trace it."

"Can you see what was emailed?"

"Yeah" Broots seemed to become nervous again as it pulled it up.

Sydney watched as an image loaded onto the screen. A mix of emotions from sadness to anger filled him as he looked at the image of the seemingly unconscious teen in one of the Centre holding rooms. Something seemed familiar about the boy, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was?"

"Syd, did you know they were getting someone else?"

"No." the older gentleman answered solemnly. "This has got to be Raines' new project. Does anyone else know you've gotten this?"

"No. Just me. This was just a test run of the system. I haven't put it up on the system yet."

"Good Broots. Don't tell anyone about this, not even Parker."

"Hey, Syd. Does this kid look familiar to you?"

"Yes, Yes he does."

Broots eyes widened as recognition dawned on him. "Hey! That's the kid we met at that farmhouse when we were in Kansas! What's he doing here?"

"I don't know. But, I intend to find out." Sydney looked at Broots seriously.

"Do you know where he is?"

"Can't really tell" Broots shook his head. "You know they've been doing all that work for the past two weeks down on sublevel 19. He might be there."

"Thanks, Broots." Sydney turned to leave the room, but turned back towards Broots. "You can't tell Miss Parker about this."

Broots nodded as Sydney left. He turned back towards the picture on the screen. He felt bad for the kid. If Raines was in charge, it didn't look good for him. Broots glanced sadly over at the picture of his daughter Debbi that he kept nearby. If someone had sent for Jarod maybe he would be able to help.

Jonathan stood in Clark's bedroom next to his dresser, where he kept a few pictures. Jonathan seemed transfixed by the one he held in his hand. It was taken about a year ago, all three of them standing in front of the house smiling. He should have been there. He was Clark's father. It was his job to protect him from the world, and anyone's attempt to exploit his son's uniqueness.

The other side of his brain chided him for his line of thinking. _You're acting like Clark is not coming back. _ He still wanted to go and storm down the castle and choke any information he could out of Lionel. But, Martha was right. They didn't really know what was going on and they needed to know where to start their search.

Jonathan was broke out of his thoughts by the sound of the phone ringing. He was across the room reaching for it so quickly it would have made Clark raise an eyebrow. "Clark? Is that you?"

Jarod sighed sadly to himself. He heard the desperation in Jonathan's voice. He wondered momentarily if his parents sounded the same way when he went missing. "No, it's Jarod."

"Oh, Jarod. Hi" the disappointment in Jonathan's voice was very evident to Jarod.

"I'm going to cut to the chase, Jonathan. I know where Clark is."

Jonathan felt his hopefulness rise a little. At least this would be a start. "Where is he?"

"He's at the Centre."

Jonathan collapsed onto the bed, unable to say anything. From the way Jarod had described the place to him, Clark was living out his worst nightmare.

"Jonathan, I'm on my way right now to get him out. I'm not going to let him stay in that place and have another family ripped apart like I was."

"Thank you." It was all Jonathan could manage to say as he hung up the phone and sat on the edge of his son's bed in shock.

Jarod looked out through his windshield as night began to fall. That would certainly be helpful for what he was planning. There was one more phone call he needed to make before anything else was done. Jarod dialed the now familiar number with a mix of emotions about what he was about to do.

Margaret heard her cell phone ring and quickly picked it up smiling. "Hi, mom."

Margaret's smile faded instantly at the sound of her son's voice something was wrong.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I didn't know whether to call you or not. I didn't want to worry you, but, I thought you needed to know. I'm not used to having someone to call before I do things."

Margaret was happy and sad all at the same time. "You can tell me anything. What's going on?"

"I'm going back."

Margaret quickly sat down as she felt slightly faint. "Why?" She could feel the tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't lose her son again after she had found him again.

"They've taken Clark and I have to get him back. Mom, I can't let the Centre get away with ruining another family's life."

Margaret's heart immediately went out to the Kents. She knew Jarod was right. She had to let him go and trust that he would make it back to her safely. "Sweetheart, please be careful. I can't bear to lose you again to them."

"I promise I will, Mom." Jarod took a breath to steady himself. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Chloe, the Kents probably want to be alone right now." Pete had been trying to plead his case all the way from the Torch's office, but had met with absolutely no compromise, which was why they were now pulling into the Kent's driveway.

Chloe turned the car's ignition off and turned to look directly at her friend. "Pete, I just can't go home right now. I have a hundred different scenarios runnig through my head. I just can't sit around and do nothing. The Kents might have found something out that can help us find Clark. Don't you want to know if they've found anything out?"

Pete desperately wanted to know if they had found anything out, but knew the Kents couldn't really talk as long as Chloe was there. "Yes, I want to know as much as you do, but I'm sure the Kents will call us as soon as they find something out."

"Pete, you have been trying to keep my away from here ever since we left the Torch." Chloe looked at him suspiciously. "You're almost acting like Clark. Do you know something that I don't? If you do know something you'd better tell me now, especially if it'll help us find Clark."

_Man, how does Clark do this all the time? _ "Chloe, I swear I don't know anything more about what's going on about this than you do. I just thought the Kents might need some time to themselves before people come barging in."

"Pete, it's not like we're strangers." Chloe said as she unbuckled her belt and began to get out of the car. "Besides, they might want some company."

Chloe walked into the Kent home, followed closely behind by Pete, and headed for the kitchen where she spotted Martha standing near the sink. She was just about to say something when she heard someone coming down the stairs.

Jonathan headed down the stairs still dazed by what Jarod had just told him. "Martha, that was Jarod—" Jonathan reached the bottom of the stairs and finally saw that they were not alone. "Oh, Chloe. Pete. I didn't realize you were here."

Chloe's heart went out to the Kents. Maybe Pete had been right about them needing some time to themselves. But, she was already here, so she was going to find out what she came for. "So, have you found out anything? Who's Jarod?" Chloe asked but before anyone could answer she answered her own question. "Isn't that the name of the guy you helped a few weeks back? Does he know what's happened to Clark?"

Pete looked from Mr. Kent, to Mrs. Kent, to Chloe. He thought Chloe would be the one completely out of the loop but now it seemed like he was.

Jonathan looked over at his wife before answering Chloe's questions. He knew he couldn't truthfully answer Chloe's questions, but he also knew the inquisitive teen was not going to be leaving without some kind of an answer. "Yes, Chloe. That's the guy that we helped out a few weeks ago."

"Does he know what happened to Clark?"

Jonathan closed his eyes momentarily before answering. The thought of Clark being in a place like that was almost too much for him to bear. "Yes, Chloe. He does. The people who were here looking for Jarod have taken Clark."

Jonathan heard Martha gasp. He turned and looked at her once more before turning back to Chloe. "They want him in exchange for Clark."

"Well, he's not going to just give himself over is he? I-I mean I want Clark out of where ever he is too, but he can't just turn himself over like that." Chloe looked between the two adults trying to find an answer.

"No, Jarod said he is not going to turn himself in, but he's going to get Clark out."

Pete held up his hand in the form of a T. "Okay, timeout. Timeout. What is going on here and who is Jarod?"

Chloe decided to answer Pete's questions while Jonathan turned to try and comfort Martha. "Jarod is this guy who showed up in town a few weeks ago."

"Okay, I got that much already."

"Well, anyway there was this group of people after him, and Clark and the Kents helped him and let him stay here for a while to be safe."

"And now these mystery people want him back bad enough that they kidnapped Clark?"

"Apparently so" Jonathan answered.

"Whoa." Pete looked at Jonathan thinking there might be more to the story, but he didn't get anything from him. He could just see the worry on both of the Kents face.

"Well, is there anything we can do?" Chloe asked already knowing the answer but still needing to do something to help get Clark back.

"No, Chloe. But, thanks for being a good friend and coming over."

"You're welcome. Mr. Kent." Pete took the hint and got up, grabbing Chloe by the arm. "We're going to leave you alone now."

Martha stood there stoically as the teens left. As soon as they were out of earshot she turned to Jonathan. "Is that what he really said?"

Jonathan shook his head. "He thinks they have somehow found out about Clark and want to find out what he can do."

"Oh, Jonathan."

"I know, sweetheart." He pulled her into a tight hug. "He said he wasn't going to let them hurt another family and that he would get him out. We've got to believe in that."


	5. Chapter 5

Pete looked at his friend wearily. He had lost track of the time, but it felt like hours had passed since they had left the Kent's house, now he and Chloe were in the Torch's office researching. Chloe wanted to see if she could find out anything about this mysterious Centre. He had attempted to try and help her look up stuff as well, but that was more Chloe's realm and he quit after finding absolutely nothing. He was now there for moral support. "You need some more caffeine?"

Chloe turned away from the computer screen giving her friend a slight smile. "You probably never thought you'd hear me say this… but no. I think I've drank enough already to keep several people up for days."

Pete had to agree with her as he looked at the various empty soft drink cans and coffee cups that lined the desk and filled the garbage can. "Find anything yet?"

Chloe sighed clearly frustrated, "No. It's like the place doesn't even exist and I don't have any long distant contacts that can help me out with this one."

"Well, you've tried your best, Chloe." Pete patted her reassuringly on the shoulder. "The Kents said Jarod was on his way to get Clark. He's going to come back."

Chloe nodded. The strain of the day was beginning to show on her face. "Yeah, I know. I keep telling myself that. But, what if…?"

"You can't think like that Chloe. He's coming back." Pete almost thought he saw tears forming in Chloe's eyes, but she turned quickly back towards her computer before he could tell for sure.

"So, why did these people go after Clark?"

"I don't know Chloe."

Broots tried to focus on the report he was working on, but he couldn't. Sydney was on his way to find out what was going on with the kid being detained in the Centre. Meanwhile, he was going to have to sit here and wait for Ms. Parker. He would have to lie to her about Sydney's whereabouts, which wasn't easy for him to do, because Ms. Parker could normally see right through him and if he didn't get back to his report, it would never get done, which would not help the situation any.

Broots's thoughts were broken and he nearly jumped out of his chair when the door suddenly opened revealing Ms. Parker. "Oh, Ms. Parker you startled me."

Ms. Parker just raised an eyebrow as she stared coolly at Broots. "Do you have those reports ready for me?"

"N-no not yet. I'll have them ready for you in just a little bit. I've been working on that new email filtering program."

"Have you got it working yet? Have you found out anything about Jarod?"

Broots cleared his throat. "Uh, I don't have it quite ready to go on the system yet and I haven't found anything out about Jarod's location."

Ms. Parker stared down at Broots for a few moments before saying "Get those reports to me as soon as possible."

"Yes ma'am." Broots watched as she turned and left the office. He sighed in relief as soon as the door was closed. _That was easy, maybe a little too easy._

Jarod reached the outside vent that he had used for his escape. He paused momentarily as he had a flashback to the night he had escaped. He removed the cover to vent and stepped inside. This trip back in would have to be as successful as his last one out.

Clark slowly opened his eyes; the thick fog that had encompassed him had lifted to a light mist. He blinked repeatedly against the bright lights. He tried to push himself up which caused a pain to shoot through his arm and up into his head. He sat upright and looked at the small puncture wound on his arm. It was definitely tender to the touch and seemed to have a light green tint in the middle of it. Whoever had him, knew how to take him out. How did they know, and where was he?

Clark stood and quickly sat back down. He looked up and saw the camera in the upper corner of the room. The room was stark. It had three walls that looked like they were made out of some type of metal. The fourth wall contained a large window, though Clark couldn't see through it. _It's a one way mirror for observation._

Clark thought about seeing if his X-ray vision was working and trying to get a clue about where he was, but looked back at the camera. Whoever was watching was probably waiting on him to try and do something out of the ordinary. Clark stood back up finding out that his legs could hold him now. He walked over to the window and placed his hands on the glass. As soon as he did small panels above the window opened up releasing green gas into the room.

Stunned, Clark instantly started coughing and backed away from the poisonous gas. The room was so small that there really wasn't anywhere he could go. He collapsed back onto the shelf he had been lying on previously.

Sydney quickly opened the door to let in some fresh air. He had seen what had just happened to the teen when he had hit the window and it made him see red. Animals were treated better than they were treating this kid. He didn't know why Raines was interested in him, but it didn't matter. You just didn't treat someone like that. Sydney couldn't do anything about it now though and calmly walked into the room.

Clark gasped for the fresh air that entered the room when the door was opened. His lungs had felt like someone had stuck a match to them.

Sydney quickly glanced up at the camera in the corner of the room and stood in its line of sight obscuring the guard from seeing the teen's face. "Hello, my name is Sydney." He could tell by the look on the boy's face that he knew who he was and exactly where he was.

"Where am I?"

"You're at the Centre."

"Why am I here? What do you want from me?"

"I don't know. I'm not the one who brought you here."

"What's your name?"

"Clark."

Sydney saw the pleading look in Clark's eyes and the unspoken request for help. "I'll be the one who will be working with you." He couldn't do anything to help the boy now. But, he would not let Raines get a hold of him if he had anything to do with it. Sydney turned back towards the door and waited as it opened.

"What are you doing here?" Raines hissed.

Sydney stepped away from the door into the hallway. "You know that I'm to be notified of any new arrivals." He spoke calmly to the man that had once been his colleague. "I was just having a preliminary meeting with the newest subject."

"You will not interfere with my project." Raines stared at Sydney for a moment before turning to the nearby guard. "He is not to be allowed near here anymore."

The guard nodded compliantly. "Yes, sir"

Sydney nodded slightly as he turned to walk away.

Raines continued to watch Sydney for a few moments before turning back the other way. "He's up to something. I know it."

Sydney hadn't gotten to far away when he heard. "Hello, Sydney. Nice to know you're still greeting the new arrivals." Ms. Parker stepped forward out of the shadows right in front of him.

"This is none of your concern, Parker." Ms. Parker's eyebrow rose. Sydney rarely used an angry tone of voice with her.

Sydney tried to step pass her, but she placed her arm out blocking him. "I'm making it my concern. Now, tell me what's going on."

Sydney sighed. He knew when Ms. Parker made her mind up about something she would not be swayed. "Come to my office."

Ms. Parker moved out of the way and followed Sydney to his office.


	6. Chapter 6

Jarod quickly, but quietly slipped through the narrow ventilation shaft of the Centre. The maze of pipes could certainly confuse anyone with its claustrophobic spaces, which increased a person's sensation of going in circles. However, Jarod knew exactly where he was going. When he first escaped the Centre, he had his route planned down to the last turn. He could not afford to lose a second getting lost. His trip back in tonight was no exception.

He didn't know where they were keeping Clark, but he knew who would. Jarod heard voices up ahead and stopped to make sure he wouldn't be detected.

"You had better not be planning on cutting me out of this" Lionel sneered as he confronted the other man. "I told you to inform me the moment Clark woke up."

Jarod instantly tuned into the conversation. He didn't recognize the voice. Whoever it was had to be the person that tipped off the Centre.

"I haven't cut you out of anything Lionel." Raines hissed. Lionel was not the one in control here. He was. This was his domain and he was not going to be bullied around by this outsider. But, he had also learned that sometimes it was easier to at least appear like you were going along with the plan. "The boy has just awakened. The blood sample that I took hasn't been tested yet" Raines narrowed his eyes as he continued. "You will be informed of any changes as soon as I know anything. Then we will work out our plans on what to do with the boy after we have determined what his tests reveal."

Jarod knew that voice all too well. Anger flowed through him as he listened to the conversation. How could they talk about a person like they were an object that you could just do whatever you wanted to with?

"Keep it that way" Lionel said ominously as he stepped toward the other man. "You know you wouldn't even have him here without me."

Lionel started to walk off but Raines called after him. "You remember I'm not the only one benefiting here."

At that moment,Jarod wanted to jump down and take out his anger, but instead a wicked smile crossed his face. _"You're time will come."_

Ms. Parker fumed the whole way to Sydney's office. As soon as the door was closed behind the pair she let him know how irritated she was. "So, what's got Raines's panties in a wad; he's got a new toy and doesn't want to share?"

Sydney sighed inwardly as he headed for his chair. He knew Ms. Parker was going to be mad when she found out he knew something ahead of her. He knew it would be a matter of "when" not "if". He also knew she was not as callus as her remark insinuated . She was just mad and lashing out. "I know you're mad Parker. I just found out myself and I wouldn't have found out anything if it had been left up to Raines."

"Just when were you planning on telling me?" Her hand went up in the in frustration. "And how did Broots find out?" Before Sydney could answer her eyes narrowed and her voice become low and cold. "You know that if you find out anything about Jarod I'm to know immediately."

Sydney leaned back slightly in his chair. What he was about to say was not going to help the situation any, but it was better to just tell her the truth. "Broots was working on the new email program."

Ms. Parker cut him off before he could get any further. "Did he say it was ready for the system yet?"

Sydney kept his voice calm and steady hoping it might eventually calm her down as well. "It's not. He was just doing a test run on it."

"And?" Ms. Parker felt like pacing wanting to get rid of the frustration building up inside of her, but remained stationary.

"He picked up an email that was sent from an unknown email address from inside the Centre. It had a picture of an unconscious teenage boy with the words "Happening Again" written across it."

"Someone sent an email to Jarod?" Ms. Parker asked surprised. The hierarchy of the Centre had for a while wondered if Jarod was getting help from the inside – which would explain how he had eluded them for so long. They had even questioned herself, Broots and Sydney. But she didn't know that someone was actually communicating with the escaped lab rat.

"Could he tell where he was?"

Sydney shook his head. "No, he lost the transmission. You know Parker, Jarod wouldn't do anything that would get himself easily detected."

Ms. Parker eyed the older man for a moment. "You think Jarod is coming back."

Sydney almost laughed, but that was what he had been thinking. "Why would Jarod come back here?"

"Well, somebody obviously wanted him to know what's going on here." Ms. Parker said with a raised eyebrow. "So, what's the connection between Jarod and the kid?"

Sydney didn't answer Ms. Parker immediately. "You think Raines sent the email?"

"No." Ms. Parker answered. "I think if Raines had a way to contact Jarod he would have done it by now. But, I wouldn't put it past that snake to kidnap someone that Jarod cares about to try and lure him back here in hopes of a rescue. So, what's the connection Syd?"

The gentleman sighed, there was no way of getting around this. "Do you remember our trip to Kansas a few weeks ago?"

Ms. Parker rubbed the side of her head as if the mere thought of the pain gave her an instantaneous headache. "How could I forget? That hayseed sheriff wanted to lock me up."

"Do you remember the family that lived on the farm we went out to because we thought Jarod was there?"

"Yes."

"Raines has taken their son."

Ms. Parker was clearly stunned. "So, you're thinking that Raines decided to just go and kidnap a complete stranger who may or may not have ever met Jarod, and brought him here as bait? Syd that makes no sense at all."

Sydney shook his head. "I honestly don't know what's going on."

Ms. Parker started to turn to leave. "I'm going to find out."

"Parker" Sydney called out, causing her to turn back towards him. "Raines doesn't want anyone nosing around on this."

"I'm not afraid of that miserable excuse for a human being."

"I know,." Sydney looked at her in almost a fatherly manner. "But, maybe you should be… just be careful."

Ms. Parker exited the room but had only been gone for just a few moments when another voice greeted him. "Hello, Sydney."

The older gentleman quickly turned around and watched as his former student appeared out of the shadows. "Jarod. What are you doing here?" He whispered.

"You seem to have already figured that out." Jarod looked solemnly at his old teacher. "Where is he Sydney?"

"He's on Sublevel 19, but you can't do this."

An almost undetectable smile crossed Jarod's face, "You told me that I could do anything that I put my mind to it."

The older gentleman smiled back at his protégé. "You didn't let me finish. You can't do this without help."


	7. Chapter 7

Sydney slipped into the tech's office but Broots wasn't there. He hadn't been standing there very long when the door opened again behind him nearly hitting him"Oh, Syd I'm sorry. I didn't see you." Broots apologized as he came through the narrow opening. "I'm not really myself right now. I had to go and take some reports to Ms. Parker's office, but she wasn't there. She came by here earlier but I didn't tell her anything. Did she see you?"

The words seem to fly out of the tech's mouth as if they were part of one really long sentence. Sydney just let him ramble. He knew that was something Broots did when he got nervous and it was better to let him get it all out sometimes than to interrupt him."

"Broots we need your help." Sydney calmly replied.

"We?" Broots cocked his head slightly at the question. Sydney had just said earlier that he didn't want Ms. Parker involved.

"Hello, Broots." Jarod stepped forward from the back corner of the office.

Broots eyes grew to the size of saucers as he jumped back falling into his chair, and then letting a small scream escape his mouth as he stammered, "J-Jarod!"

Jarod stepped a little closer to the tech. "I need your help."

Broots nervously looked between Sydney and Jarod. His mind was whirling. I could get in so much trouble right now. No, I could turn up on the wrong side of an accident if anyone found out. Sydney gave him a reassuring nod. "W-What are you doing here?"

Jarod looked at the picture of Debbi that Broots had pinned on his wall. Broots followed his line of sight. Jarod had once helped him with her, although Broots didn't know it at the time. His ex-wife had been trying to get custody of Debbi and some papers mysteriously appeared before the judge informing him that she was not a fit mother. He found out later when Jarod saved his life from another one of the Centre's experiments. Though he then did the same for Jarod.

Jarod's expression softened some as he answered. "I need you to loop the camera in Clark's room."

"Okay." Broots said with more confidence than he had felt all night. He knew this was the right thing to do, but hoped it wouldn't come back on him in a bad way. "But even if I loop the camera Mike is going to have to be distracted so that he doesn't see the screen blip."

Jarod and Sydney both looked at the tech as it dawned on him what they wanted him to do and all his newfound confidence seemed to melt away.

"Oh, no." Broots shook his head at the two men. "No, no, no. I'm not good at things like this." Broots tried to plead his case. "I get nervous and just ramble and you can completely see through me. I can't even play poker. Lost fifty dollars, which was all my money, the one and only time I've ever played."

The older man looked down at nervous tech kindly. "I've already gotten into a confrontation with Raines. He ordered the guard to not let me anywhere near there. You can do this Broots. You just have to have a short talk with Mike."

Broots nervously walked down the hall as he held the bag of Funyons. The bag rattled in his shaking hands. He tried to take a deep breath and calm down but it wasn't really helping any. Okay, you can do this Broots. Everyone is counting on you. You're just going to go and have a talk with Mike. That's all. Just a little talk and then you'll be on your way.

Broots tried to put his best smile on his face as he reached the small office area that the guard occupied. "Hey, Mike."

"Oh hey, Broots." The guard was propped back in his chair with his legs propped up on the counter with the monitor next to his feet. Mike dropped his feet to the floor and sat up. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Oh, I had to work on some reports for Ms. Parker." Broots answered, then showing the bag of chips. "I got hungry and they were all out of these upstairs."

Mike shook his head. "I don't see how you work for that Ice Queen."

Broots actually managed a small chuckle. "It's a paycheck, man."

The guard nodded. "I hear ya."

Broots saw the screen blip. Just wrap up the conversation and get out of there. "So, is this new job working out for you?"

"Yeah," Mike yawned. "Little boring though. Just sit here and watch the monitor. I used to get to at least walk around some."

"Well, I had better get back to work before Ms. Parker tracks me down." Broots started to head off.

"Better you than me." Broots heard him call after him.

Clark sat in the corner of his cell. He was afraid. There hadn't been that many times in his life that he had truly been afraid, but this was one of them. He was as curled up as much as his large frame could be on the small cot. Clark stared at the large window that he was sure the people holding him were watching his every move from its other side. He had no idea how they had found out about him. He was always careful about using his abilities so he wouldn't end up in places like this. Clark thought about his parents and what they must be going through. Then he thought about his dad, who taught him courage wasn't the absence of fear but of overcoming it.

Clark stood up and began to study his cell further. He stayed away from the glass now, painfully knowing it was rigged with gas. He began to tap the other walls gently to see if he got any reaction out of them. Clark made it back around to the wall where his bunk lay thankfully without a reaction.

Clark stopped when he heard a slight rattling noise. He watched as the ventilation cover next to his bunk began to move slightly and then came loose but stayed upright. A pair of hands moved the cover out of the way before Jarod appeared from the hole.

A mixture of relief and confusion flooded through Clark at the sight of his friend. "What are you doing here? How did you know?"

"A friend let me know. I'm here to take you back to your family. I can't let yours be ripped apart especially since you help me put mine back together."

Clark smiled. "Thanks."

"Okay, we'll talk later." Clark glanced up at the video camera.

Jarod followed his friend's gaze. "Don't worry about that. It's taken care of. We need to go before anyone discovers it."

Clark nodded. He didn't need to be convinced as he quickly followed Jarod out the shaft that he came in.

Ms. Parker found her quarry talking with his goon, Willie. "I knew you were pretty low, Raines. I didn't think that even you would stoop to kidnapping innocent people to use them as bait."

The one time doctor stared coldly. "I don't know what you are talking about Ms. Parker." Raines paused as he took a breath. "You need to be more careful about who you are accusing of doing things."

Ms. Parker put her hands on her hips brushing her jacket to her back. She stepped forward using every inch of her height she got from her high heel shoes as she spoke through nearly clenched teeth. "You are going to stand here and lie to me that you know nothing about that teenage boy you have locked up that you are using as bait. I would think you would know better than to have an exposure like that to the public."

Before Raines could answer an alarm started blaring through the facility. "You wanted him. Seems like you've got him."

Mrs. Parker quickly put her earpiece in her ear. "What's happening Broots?"

"The security sensors in the ventilation shaft on Sublevel 20 have tripped."

Ms. Parker grabbed her gun from her holster and took off at a full sprint for the stairs, followed by Willie. "Which corridor?"

"The East corridor."

Ms. Parker took the steps two at a time busting through the door that went into the corridor. "Now where?"

"Turn left"

Ms. Parker followed the directions. "How can I cut him off Broots?"

"Turn right, then left and you should get to the cutoff point before he does."

Ms. Parker threaded through the empty hallways and ended up in a boiler room. It would be just like Jarod to escape to a maintenance level of the building. She could hear him against the metal. "Jarod, come out here now. You can;t escape."

The noise stopped. Ms. Parker nodded toward Willie who stepped forward and removed the screen from the vent. Ms. Parker dropped her gun and let out an exasperated sigh.

Angelo sat there looking at them in bewilderment.

"Ms. Parker what's going on?" Broots called out over the radio.

She began to pace frustrated. "Your new security system found Cousin It."

Jarod pushed the exit to the vent further away. He crawled out, followed by Clark. "Can you run?"

Clark nodded his head. The trip had tired him, but he felt like he could run. "Yeah."

"Good. I have a car, but it's a little ways away."

Clark ran behind Jarod at what would be considered a normal pace, for anyone except him. He couldn't believe how tired he felt. He knew he should be able to speed both of them to the car in a blink, but his legs felt like they were made out of rubber. He noticed that Jarod seemed to have slowed his pace slightly as not to get too far ahead of him.

"This is how you escaped the first time?" Clark asked between breaths.

Jarod stopped as they reached a car giving Clark a quick smile. "No, the first time I didn't have a car."


	8. Chapter 8

Jarod looked over at his young friend and had to give a slight smile. Clark was unsuccessfully trying to fight going to sleep. "It's okay if you go to sleep."

"I'm fine." Clark protested weakly as he shifted in the seat in a futile attempt to stay awake. "I need to keep watch, just in case."

Jarod didn't push the point any further and just nodded. The car ride continued on in silence and Jarod looked over at Clark as the first rays of the morning sun approached and saw that he had finally succumbed to sleep. Jarod was used to the lack of sleep and wasn't bothered by it. He had been put through sleep deprivation simulations and rarely got what most would consider a good night's sleep.

He worried briefly about the sun coming in the window that it might awaken Clark, but as he glanced over at his passenger he noticed curiously that it seemed to have the opposite effect on him. Or it could be exhaustion had finally set in.

He waited a few minutes to make sure Clark was good and asleep, before pulling out his cell phone to call his mom.

Margaret had spent a fretful night. She had sat up all night unable to go to sleep but had caught herself dozing off a time or two. She had kept her cell phone close at hand so she would know the moment that he called her. The ringing phone jarred her brain back to life as she fumbled around trying to reach the right button.

"Hello, Jarod?" Her voice gave away her lack of sleep as she spoke.

"Did I wake you?" Jarod asked just realizing that most people would probably not be awake at this hour.

"No, sweetie. I was already up. I must have just dozed off in the chair." Margaret answered warmly. "Are you okay? What about Clark?"

"I'm fine." Jarod replied before glancing over at Clark. "Clark is asleep next to me."

"Is it okay for you to be driving? Aren't you sleepy? Should you be talking while you're driving?"

"Mom" Jarod still marveled at saying it. He didn't know if there would come a time when he wouldn't. "I'm fine. I'm not sleepy a bit." Jarod glanced over at Clark before continuing. "Clark, on the other hand is sleeping soundly."

"Be careful, Sweetheart. I love you."

Jarod felt warmth go through him hearing his mom saying those words. "I love you too mom. Tell the Kents we'll be there in a few hours."

"I'll do that for you." Jarod hung up the phone thinking about the conversation he had just had. He had noticed since he had first escaped the Centre that children normally didn't like having conversations like that with their parents. It was too mushy for their taste and they didn't like being reminded of things, but he savored the moment. He loved the feeling of having someone thinking about him and watching out for him. A smile couldn't help but form on his lips as he thought about it.

A little while later, Jarod drove through an open metal gate passing a sign that said Mike's School of Flying. He stopped the car in front of a small two-seater plane that had been pulled out from one of the many hangers.

Jarod stepped out of the car and walked towards the middle-aged man who was slightly taller than Jarod and about forty pounds heavier. The man extended his hand and Jarod took it warmly. "Thanks for doing this Mike."

The man released Jarod's grip as he patted him on the shoulder. "It's the least I could do for you after what you did for me. My self or my business wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for you."

"I was going to thank you earlier, but you seemed to have vanished right after everything came out. I wondered about that until those people came around here asking about you."

Jarod opened his mouth to say something but Mike held up his hand to stop him. "Don't worry about it. I told them I had no clue who you were, never seen you before in my life." He paused momentarily before continuing his voice taking on a serious tone. "Listen, you don't have to explain anything to me. You're a good man. Better than most I know. You help people. There should be more people like you."

A smile returned to Mike's face as he shook his head. "That woman that came out here with those two guys. Let me tell you what, she was a piece of work."

"Thanks, Mike." Jarod smiled at Mike. "You're right. She is a piece of work."

The slighter older man nodded towards the car. "Who's that you got with you there?"

"Another friend who needed some help getting home."

Mike smiled and nodded his head. That sounded just like something Jarod would do.

Mike glance lovingly at the plane. "She's my best bird."

"I'll take great care of her."

"I know you will."

Mike turned towards the plane behind them stretching his hand out towards it saying, "She's all gassed up and ready to go."

"I'll bring her back in a few days."

A woman walked out from the nearby hangar motioning for Mike to come. He turned and waved his acknowledgement of her before turning back to Jarod. "Keep her as long as you need. I have plenty others. I've got to go."

Jarod extended his hand and shook Mike's once more. "I do too."

Jarod walked back towards the car to find Clark still asleep. He opened Clark 's door and gently shook the teen. Clark awoke immediately with a start, his eyes popping open as he looked around wildly. "Clark, its Jarod. Everything's okay."

Clark 's eyes seemed to come into focus as he calmed down and nodded his acknowledgment that he was now aware of his surroundings. "We're going to fly home. You're okay with heights aren't you?"

Clark nodded absently. He really wasn't completely okay with heights. But, he wasn't going to say anything about that to Jarod. He just wanted to get home.

As Jarod and Clark walked over to the plane Jarod turned toward his friend looking a little concerned. "Are you feeling better?"

Now that Clark was awake and fully aware of what was going on, he noticed that he was feeling a lot better. "Yeah, I do. I will feel even better when we get home." Just then a thought occurred to him. "You do know how to fly, right?"

Jarod smiled over at Clark mischievously. "Of course I do. I read a book on aviation once."

"You've only read a book" Clark began to suddenly feel uneasy. He knew he couldn't get hurt, but it still bothered him.

"More than one actually," Jarod said continuing to tease his friend.

"That makes me feel a lot better." Clark said with a slight bit of sarcasm.

Clark entered the small cabin after Jarod. "Don't worry, this is nothing...you should try  
flying a fighter jet, now that is awesome" and the he began to go through his preflight checklist. "Oh, and if we do have any problems, I was a jump instructor once as well."

Clark looked over at his friend and just shook his head.

Martha stood at the kitchen sink washing up some dishes. She stopped when she realized she had been lost in her thoughts again and had been scrubbing the same spot for a while. She had dirtied several pieces as she looked around at the many different breakfast items she had made. She knew Clark would be hungry when he came home and she wanted there to be plenty for him to eat. _When he came home_, she thought again to herself. Margaret had called a few hours ago letting them know that Jarod had called her and let her know they were both safe and on their way back.

Martha had immediately felt an immense weight lift off her when she heard the news. But, she wouldn't feel completely at ease until she could actually see Clark and know for herself that he was okay. She knew Jonathan felt the same way. They had spent a very restless night, eventually falling asleep against each other on the couch. Jonathan had gone outside to take out his anxiety on the old tractor that needed work while she tried to bake her nervousness away.

The security of the family had been broken. Someone had found out about Clark and their worst fears had been realized. Now that they knew, what would keep them from trying again? The thought gnawed at her mind threatening to break down her strong resolve.

Martha was taken from her thoughts as an unknown car pulled up into the driveway. The windows were tinted slightly where she couldn't make out the occupants of the car. The passenger door opened and Martha immediately recognized that black mop of hair. "Clark!"

Martha ran toward the door as fast as she could. She shouted for her husband as soon as she was outside rushing over to her son to make sure for herself that he was really there and all right. Martha squeezed her nearly invulnerable son as hard as she could, before stepping back to take a good look at him.

"Hi, mom." Clark smiled down at her with a look in his eyes telling her all she needed to know. "I'm fine."

Jonathan had rushed out of the barn as soon as he had heard his wife calling out his name and was now waiting eagerly for his time to be with his son. Martha stepped back letting Jonathan come forward and then he grabbed a hold of his son in a bear hug. "I love you, son." Jonathan said his voice barely above a whisper.

"I love you too, dad."

Jarod stood and watched the family reunion finally able to fully understand its meaning since being reunited with his mom.

Martha finally broke the silence of the moment. "Why don't we go inside and get something to eat and we can talk more then?"

Jarod nodded and followed the family inside.


	9. Chapter 9

Jonathan placed his hand on Jarod's shoulder. "I can't thank you enough for what you've done." Jonathan glanced over at Clark who was just finishing up his breakfast before turning back to Jarod. "You've given me, my family back."

"You don't need to thank me" Jarod said. "You protected me and gave me something I never thought I would have – a family. I would say we've even."

Jonathan smiled. "I guess so."

Martha had watched Clark carefully since he had gotten back. Sure, he had smiled earlier and seemed genuinely glad to be home. He had even eaten his entire breakfast, but she could tell something was bothering them. There was something he was afraid to tell them. _What had they done to him?_

"Clark, what's bothering you sweetheart?" Martha asked. 

"I'm just glad to be home" Clark said sadly as he stared down at his plate

"But….." Martha prompted

"It doesn't matter" he said looking up at her.

Jonathan turned to his son, "What do you mean it doesn't matter? Of course it matter son."

Clark turned to face his father getting more agitated. "No, it doesn't dad. You don't understand. They took my blood. If they don't already, they'll soon know everything. They'll come back. They got to me once, what's to stop them from doing it again?" 

Clark looked at his father hoping he had an answer or some kind of wisdom to dispense that would make things better like he normally did. What Clark saw was his father's face pale as the new information sunk in. "We'll figure something out, son. They're not going to do this to this family again."

While Jonathan spoke, Jarod quietly pulled something from his pocket and laid it on the kitchen counter. "No, they'e not going to do anything to you again."

The Kents couldn't believe their eyes as they became momentarily speechless. Clark finally found his voice. "Is that mine? How did you?"

Jarod nodded his head. On the table lay Clark's vile of blood along with the blank form that would have been used to fill out any gained information. "A friend got this for me before it was tested. So, you don't have to worry about that."

Clark felt like a weight had been lifted off of him. They didn't know about him yet, at least not the whole story anyway. He still couldn't completely relax. There was now blood in the water and he knew the sharks wouldn't give up easily. _How did they find out in the first place? _

Clark was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of someone knocking on the unlocked screen door. "Mr & Mrs. Kent" Pete called out as he opened the door. "I was coming by to see if you heard anything about… _Clark!_ Pete exclaimed as he saw his best friend sitting in the kitchen.

Clark stood up as Pete rushed over to him giving him a hug before stepping back. "Man, am I glad to see you. When'd you get here? You okay?"

Clark smiled. "I got back just a few minutes ago. Yeah, I'm okay thanks to Jarod." Clark motioned toward his rescuer.

Pete walked over to Jarod and shook his hand. "Thank you and glad to finally meet you. I'm Pete."

"Hi, Pete" Jarod smiled at the teenager. "Don't mention it. You have a very special friend there."

Pete's ears perked up when he heard what Jarod said and as he turned back towards Clark he noticed the vile of blood sitting on the table and became more worried. "It's okay, Pete. He knows."

Pete let out his breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding. "Well, in that case. Welcome to the family."

Pete sat down on a nearby stool while Martha and Jonathon stood on the other side of the counter. "So, what happened?" Pete said looking around for an answer. "How did these people at the … um"

"Centre" Jarod supplied

"Yeah, the Centre find out about you?"

"Pete, I just don't know." Clark shook his head. Pete caught a glance of Jonathan and could tell he had he suspicions but no proof. 

"I think I know" Jarod said. "I heard someone talking to Dr. Raines, who works for the Centre. It appears that this person supplied information to Raines that allowed them to capture Clark. Do you know someone named Lionel?"

Jonathan immediately saw red. He knew that Lionel had to be involved in this somehow. He had meddled with his family one time to many. He had crossed the line this time and he was not going to get away with it. Without saying a word Jonathan left the kitchen, coming back a few moments later holding his shotgun in one hand and his box of ammunition in the other.

"Jonathan, No!" Martha screamed as she tried to grab his arm. He shrugged her off. "This is not the way to do this. You can't go over there and storm the castle!"

Jonathan wouldn't listen. "He's not going to mess with this family anymore! His money is not going to get him off this time."

"Jonathan" Jarod said the name in a very calm voice. It was striking against the increased intensity of everyone else's.

Jonathan turned toward Jarod. "What? And don't tell me not to do this. You know first hand what these kinds of people can and will do. Someone has got to stop them."

"Jonathan" Jarod continued in the calm tone. "You thanked me earlier for bringing your family together. This is not going to help them at all. I know you're angry."

"I have a right to be!" Jonathan yelled at Jarod. "They'll never stop. They can't continue to get away with this."

"I'm not saying there won't be any consequences for their actions." Jarod answered. "I'm saying the way you're doing this is wrong."

"How will Lionel or those other people ever face any consequences?" Jonathan shouted. "Tell me that."

Jarod's face took on a dark countenance as a wicked smile seemed to play at the edges of his face. "The Centre's time will come, but for now Lionel will not bother your family again. I will make sure of it." 

Martha finally spoke. "Please give me the gun, Jonathan." Jarod nodded his head as Jonathan loosened his grasp on the gun letting Martha take it.

Clark and Pete sat there stunned. Neither one of them had ever seen Jonathan this mad before. 

"I promise you that Lionel will know the consequences of his actions." 

A little while later…

Clark, Jarod and Pete walked out onto the front porch. Pete continued onto his car, but Clark stopped calling out "I'll be there in a minute."

Pete turned back to his friend and nodded before heading onto the car. 

Clark faced Jarod who was standing out on the porch seemingly deep in thought. "I can come and help you. This is more my problem than yours. You don't have to do this alone."

"Just like you didn't have to help me, you just did" Jarod smiled slightly. "It's better if I do this alone. Lionel found out how to get to you. It's safer this way. Plus, I'm used to working alone.I know you want to join me to help take down the Centre and Lionel Luthor, but you've been through so much in the past couple of days. Let me take care of Lionel first and then I'll turn my attention to the Centre. Trust me, in the end both places will regret messing with the likes of us."

Clark knew Jarod was right. Part of him worried just a little about what Jarod might do, but he wasn't going to argue with Jarod about it. The place did need to be stopped. "Well, in that case I won't argue with you. Thanks again." 


	10. Chapter 10

"Man, I have never seen your dad so mad before

"Man, I have never seen your dad so mad before." Pete glanced over at Clark in the passenger seat. "Remind me never to tick him off."

Clark nodded his head. He didn't think he had ever seen him that mad either.

"So, your new friend" Pete said changing the subject. "You said he knew. Does he know the whole ET story?" 

Clark shook his head. "No, he doesn't know about what used to be in the storm shelter. He just thinks I'm a meteor freak."

Pete nodded his head in understanding. It would've really surprised him if Mr. Kent readily accepted letting someone else in on the family secret. "How'd he find out?"

"He kinda saw me do something, or heard me do something."

Pete shook his head. "Okay, I'm going to need more of an explanation than that."

Clark took a breath before starting. "The day I met Jarod he was running from some people from the Centre that had tracked him here. They were chasing after him and he got shot."

"You heard it and stepped into rescue mode." Pete smiled slightly knowing his friend would do just that.

"Well, sorta." Clark said before continuing. "I took him and brought him here. I thought he had passed out but he heard me telling my dad that the bullet wasn't in him anymore and there were no broken bones."

"So, he thinks you're a walking X-ray machine?" 

"I don't know what he thinks really." Clark shrugged, his tone turning serious. "He said he read about the town and knew about people being different. That I should be real careful, because the Centre would love to get a hold of me."

"Good thing they aren't going to get the chance again" Pete said trying to lighten the mood. "Which reminds me, there's someone who was really worried about you."

"Who?"

"Chloe."

"She was?"

Pete felt like shaking his head at his friend, for someone who could see through almost anything, sometimes he was really blind. "Yeah. I just about had to literally pry her away from the Torch office yesterday. She was determined to find out something…. about that Centre place, not you."

"Why does she think I was kidnapped?"

"Your parents told her it was because you had helped Jarod and that place was now using you as bait to get him back."

"She believed that?"

"I guess so. She didn't really question it."

"That isn't really like Chloe."

"Yeah, I know. Like I said I think she had other things on her mind."

Chloe stood in the Torch office like a General inspecting his troops. She didn't find out anything about the Centre that would be helpful but she couldn't just sit at home doing nothing either. So, she was cleaning up the Torch office, and taking no prisoners. Normally, she would be more careful about what she threw away, making sure she wouldn't need the object later. Now, she didn't care. She needed someway of getting rid of her pent of frustration. She had two very full trashcans to show for it.

"Chloe"

Chloe didn't turn around of the sound of Pete's voice, she just continued gathering up papers. "Unless you are dropping off some caffeine I'm not really in the mood to talk right now. I'd rather just be alone." She knew she sounded snappy, and Pete was probably just coming by to help, but right now she just wasn't going to be good company and didn't want to have to try and be nice. 

"I've got something better than caffeine."

Chloe called out over her shoulder. "Oh, really? Right now, what could be better than caffeine?"

"Hi, Chloe."

Chloe dropped all the papers in her hand at the sound of the voice. She turned around slowly making sure she wasn't just hearing things. He was really there, standing in the doorway. "Clark!" She rushed over giving him a big hug. She lingered for just a moment, before backing up reassuring herself that he was real.

"Don't do that to me again!" She pulled back from him waving her finger at him sternly. "When did you get back? Are you okay?" Her face softened as she asked the final question.

Clark smiled down at her. "I won't. Just now and Yes."

"What about Jarod? Is he okay?" She was having a harder time than normal getting out the questions. She was just enjoying seeing Clark smile, and trying to keep her brain focused. 

"Yeah, he's fine too. He's visiting his mom right now."

"That's good." Chloe smiled up at him. "I'm really glad you're back, Clark."

"Me too."

Pete piped in. "Me three."

Chloe looked over at Pete and smiled before looking back at Clark. "So, do you know why they took you or does Jarod?"

Clark shrugged his shoulders. "Not really Chloe, except to get at him somehow."

Chloe seemed to think about that for a moment before apparently deciding to drop the subject. "You have to let me buy you something from the Talon."

"What about your cleaning project you're in the middle of?" 

Chloe looked back at the now almost bare office before turning back to Clark. "Oh, that was more out of frustration than anything else. I'm probably really going to be looking for stuff later." And then realizing that Clark may not want to go into the Talon, Chloe offered "I can even bring you something from the Talon out to the farm if you don't feel like going in."

"I'd really like that."

Chloe smiled again as she turned back to the office. "Let me get my keys."

Margaret watched the unknown vehicle pull up into her yard and couldn't help but feel a twinge of nervousness go through her along with her happiness. Jarod had called her and let her know that he had arrived safely at the Kents with Clark and would be seeing her shortly. But, after so many years of hiding she had become very cautious. She saw the familiar form of her son appear from the car and a smile instantly graced her weary features.

She didn't even wait for him to come up the porch steps before she hurried over to the door to open it for him. He stepped inside the house and she immediately hugged him. A few moments later, after reassuring herself that her son had really escaped once again from that evil place, she stepped back to examine her son.

"You look exhausted." She said as she brushed a stray hair away from his face.

Jarod didn't realize just had tired he really was. He had been running pretty much on adrenaline since finding out about Clark 's capture the previous afternoon. "I'm okay, mom." He smiled as he said it, grateful for the worry while trying to allay it at the same time.

"Well, you are not going anywhere until you get some rest here." Margaret gave her son the sternest look she could muster.

Jarod didn't protest. The lack of sleep was definitely catching up with him now. "Yes, ma'am."

Margaret placed her hand on Jarod's arm leading him into the kitchen. "You come in here and sit down. I'm going to fix us something to eat and I want to know about everything that happened."


	11. Chapter 11

Lionel moaned slightly as he became aware of his head pounding inside his skull. The pressure seemed to increase until it was so hard it seem that it might actually break through. He must have had a little too much to drink last night. He normally didn't ever over indulge like that because he always wanted to be in control. He only remembered taking a few sips of his brandy, but then things seemed to get fuzzy after that.

Lionel tried to move his hand to see if rubbing his head might alleviate the pressure within. A wave of fear went through him as he realized he couldn't. Lionel felt a cool breeze go past his face as he opened his eyes and the wave of fear suddenly became a tidal wave of panic as he realized the full gravity of the situation.

"Ah, you're awake."

Lionel turned his head toward the direction of the voice but couldn't see who it belonged to. "I was afraid I might fall asleep myself before you woke up. Wouldn't want that to happen. I might lose my grip."

Suddenly, Lionel felt a sickening momentary drop as the slack in the rope holding him up gave way slightly. "Who are you? Do you know who I am? You are not going to get away with this."

Lionel scanned the darkness for the person the voice belonged to. If he could find out who was behind this twisted moment in time, they would severely regret doing this to him.

"You see that's the problem. I do know who you are. People like you only understand one thing. That's power."

"What do you want? Is it money?"

"I don't want anything of yours. What would make you think I would want anything of yours?"

"What do you want from me?"

Jarod walked out of the shadows holding the controls in his hand. "You know I really don't like it when people mess with my friends."

"Jarod."

"I was robbed of a normal life by people like you."

"We can take them down together. Just let me go, and I can help you."

Jarod pushed the button giving the rope momentary slack again. "You're not listening. The Centre will get what's coming to them in time. Right now, I'm talking to you."

"Okay, okay. What do you want?"

"Clark. Leave him alone. I have to constantly worry about people coming after me. He has a good life and doesn't need that added pressure. I want it to stay that way. Are we clear?"

"Yes, very. No one will go anywhere near him."

"Or his family."

"Or his family. I promise"

"Lionel, I don't trust your word at all. Just remember I can get to you at any time."

Jarod turned to walk away as Lionel yelled out. "You can't leave me like this."

Jarod turned back and pressed another button on the control. Immediately, two bright lights attached to the building came on revealing a net underneath Lionel. "You're right. I can't." Jarod pushed the button releasing the tension on the rope.

A/N: Thanks to all the readers and especially my beta for keeping me going on this one. Oh, let me know if you would like a sequel. I have a poll up about it on my page. I have an idea of how to continue this where the Centre gets some "Justice". You can PM me any comments you'd like. Any ideas about how you would like to see this continued.


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